(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an automatic renting system for automatically renting commercial articles, such as video cassettes, CDs and the like. More specifically, the invention relates to an automatic commercial article renting system which can automatically rent the commercial article and settle a rental fee using a credit card.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In order to reduce labor cost and enable operation around-the-clocks, shops which rent video cassettes, CDs and the like, have begun to use automatic renting systems for recorded media, such as video cassettes, CDs and the like.
An automatic renting system for video cassettes generally has a rectangular parallelepiped casing in which multi-staged cabinets for storing video cassettes are arranged. The video cassettes are stored in the cabinets so that stacks of respective video cassettes are visible through a transparent window of the glassed front face. On the side portion of the window, an operation plane or panel is provided as well as an opening for renting and returning video cassettes.
In operation, a user looks though the transparent glass window to identify a video cassette which he or she wishes to rent and then selects that cassette by operating buttons arranged on an operation plane. A mechanism is also provided to accept payment of the rental fee. A transporting mechanism provided in the automatic renting system takes out the video cassette stored in the designated cabinet and transports it to the renting and returning opening. The user may then retrieve the rented video cassette through the opening.
An automatic renting system for automatically renting the commercial articles can be "on-line" and configured to exchange information with a center in an on-line trade. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. SHO 58-6549 and SHO 62-82498 disclose terminal units for on-line trading of this type.
The on-line trading terminal unit disclosed in the above-identified publications include a reading means for reading a member card, such as a credit card or the like, and a communication means for transmitting information read from the card to a control center. The control center checks membership and credibility of the member based on the received member information and transmits a command to the on-line trading terminal unit authorizing or prohibiting the desired transaction. The on-line trading terminal unit performs automatic renting of the commercial article when trading is permitted. Once the commercial article is rented, the trade and renting fee are provided to the control center. The control center then exchanges trade information with the appropriate credit card company to settle the rental fee from the account of the member who rented the commercial article.
Such an on-line trading terminal unit is convenient for the user since it does not require handling of cash. It is also convenient at the site of the on-line trading terminal unit because it is unnecessary to include a cash handling machine or the like, thus reducing security concerns.
However in a conventional automatic renting system which rents articles using an on-line credit-card based system, a mechanism has not been provided for appropriately processing situations where the rented commercial article is not returned, even after expiration of a renting period. Although such management may be performed manually, this is not only inefficient but it also negates the advantage provided by using an automated on-line process.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic commercial article renting system which can appropriately handle the case when a rented article is not returned even after a set returning period.